Overview

Here is an example of a Nightcrawler Mission I designed while working on X-men Destiny. It is Nightcrawler's goal to save a group of mutant civilians from a Purifier raid. Four Waves of Purifiers must be defeated as Nightcrawler teleports between two adjacent fight arenas.

The goal of this encounter was to:

• 1. Visually establish enemy setups to allow the player make meaningful choices when engaging swarming waves of enemies
• 2. Give the player a taste of what Nightcrawler's powers would be like to use / feel cool fighting alongside Nightcrawler
• 3. Hit the narrative story beats of the mission, wherein you and Nightcrawler are saving mutants while communicating with Emma.

Preview

Design Breakdown

To successfully create this encounter, I had to create and script cameras, trigger audio cues, teleport the player and Nightcrawler to different locations, and make mutant civilians appear as they were being rescued from the building. Originally, Nightcrawler teleported the player between the two areas without warning, but most players found this to be too disorienting and difficult to keep track of. The final encounter has the player teleporting between points after each wave has been cleared.

If I were to recreate this mission, I would force the player to view Nightcrawler teleporting mutant civilians to safety. Some players (including the one previewing the game above) may have missed this.

Phase 1

Phase one is an encounter featuring melee enemies and ranged enemies hiding behind cover. This phase was designed to encourage the player to first flank the ranged units who are hiding behind cover. The ranged enemies pose a greater threat to the player, and the placement of the cover barriers are arranged to draw the player in and around their directional attacks. The melee units act as a distraction or chaff for the greater threat.

Phase 2

Phase two is established with an overhead camera. After the player is teleported in, he or she should feel surrounded, and swarmed by enemies, but also able to assess where the major threats are. The player should feel like they are thrown into a fray, but know which direction to attack in.

Phase 3

Phase 3 was designed to surprise the player. They start this phase with seeing Nightcrawler run off around the corner from where they spawn in. When the player runs around the corner, the player should be surprised with the amount of enemies approaching. This encounter should be perceived as dangerous, but the Purifier squad is not very difficult to defeat.

Phase 4

Phase 4 was designed to make the player feel like they have mastered Nightcrawler’s mission. This fight features half the enemies of the previous phase, and acts as an easy denouement to the battle. Originally I had this phase as the most difficult; featuring more ranged enemies, but after playtesting, most users felt that they wanted something simpler.